Brick wall construction and brick



I 22/5/2668 f @9 M4 E7, 1931. c. A. WILLSON 1,332,074

BRICK WALL CONSTRUCTION AND BRICK Filed Dec. 29, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Zrzue zzzoz' "I 66M awaw IZUZYILGSS' 1931- c. A. WILLSON 1,332,074

BRICK WALL CONSTRUCTION AND BRICK Filed Dec. 29. 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 17, 1931. c. w sg 1,832,074

BRICK WALL CONSTRUCTION AND BRICK Filed Dec. 29, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet I5 MAM 4,

Nov. 17, 1931. c. A. WILLSON BRICK WALL CONSTRUCTION AND BRICK Filed Dec. 29, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 ll llll F k" f @atented Nov. 17, 193i TED STATES;

' CLARENCE A, WILLSON, OF MADISON, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR, IBY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS PATENT OFFICE TO AMERICAN FACE BRICK RESEARCH CORPORATION, A, CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS BRICK WALL CONSTRUCTION AND BRICK Application filed December 29, 1928. Serial No. 329,258.

This invention relates to a brick wall construction in which provision is made for reinforcing the wall by the construction, at recurrent intervals, of vertical pilasters which I; are united and bonded into the wall proper in such a way as to constitute an integral portion thereof, and at the same time afford the rearward protrusion requisite to afford the desired reinforcement. The pilasters are formed by the employment of L-shaped or T- shaped lug bricks, so formed and employed as to provide the pilasters at desired intervals, without disturbing the rhythm of the brick-work in the courses comprising the face of the wall.

In the past, it has been the common practice to back up a solid four-inch face brick wall with an inner wall of brick, tile, or other material. Ordinarily, the face wall and the back-up wall are bonded together by one horizontal course of brick laid crosswise of the wall in every sixth course of bricks. This course of transversely extending brick is called a header course, and is intended to 2 bond together the outer and inner wall constitucnts, but the difficulty with this construction lies in the weakness of the isolated header courses, and compression tests of such walls have shown that the breaking of the header courses constitutes the first sign of disintegration of the wall.

The wall of the present invention is designed to overcome these difficulties by pro viding a suitable reinforcement which extends continuously in vertical relation behind the horizontal brick course, so that clearly defined or localized lines of cleavage are avoided, and a strong and rugged wall is produced by the employment of a substantially lesser number of bricks than that required in the building of a double wall bonded together by header courses in the manner described.

The present invention consists in a special 4 L or T-shaped form of lug brick of proper con figuration to constitute a constituent portion of a vertically standing pilaster bonded into the face of the wall; to the method of laying such lug bricks to conform to the rhythm of the brickwork, so as to produce a reinforced wall indistinguishable in appearance from brick walls of ordinary construction; to the provision of separated header bricks adapted for the securement of furring strips or other constituents of the inner finish for the wall; and to the wall as a whole constructed as aforesaid. In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view bf a wall Fig. 6 is a view showing the junction of a partition wall with the outside wall, and also showing a method of constructing a wall with a deep stiffening rib or pilaster;

Figs. 7 and 8 are perspective views showin variants in the construction of a double bric wall, each constituent of which is constructed of a combination of standard and special lug bricks;

Fig. 9 illustrates a thick masonry wall in which'the outer face is constructed of a com-- bination of standard bricks and special lug bricks, while the back-up or inner wall is constructedentirely of standard bricks, or other masonry units;

Figs. 10 and 11 are two views showin variations in the construction of a lug rick designed especially to meet the requirements of the present invention; and

Fig. 12 is a wall construction of T-shaped bricks.

As shown in Fig. l, the lug bricks 10 of the present invention are of L-shaped or T- shapcd construction preferably consisting of two legs or sections standing at right angle relation to one another, which gives to the:

lug brick a face length equal to the length of a standard brick, and a depth also equal to the length of a standard brick. Each of the lugs is in width equal to the width'of a standard brick.

The lug bricks may be of integral homogeneous composition, as shown in Fig. 1, or of composite construction, as in Figs. 10 and 11. Where the bricks are of homogeneous composition, and properly textured on their edges, the long ed e of either leg may constitute a portion of the wall face, but where the legs are of composite construction, one edge only is adapted for exposure in the face of the wall.

The composite brick of Figs. 10 and 11 comprises a brick facing section which may be in the form of a longitudinall split half brick 11, or in the form of a mutilated brick 12 having its corner cut away. In either case, the brick facing portion is backed up by a lug 13 of plastic material, such as nailable concrete or other composition suficiently porous to permit the driving of nails or other attaching means. The composite lug brick is formed by casting the concrete or other plastic material directly behind the split or otherwise mutilated facing brick, which results in an L-shaped brick adapted to be incorporated into a brick wall in such a way as to afiord a reinforcing pilaster of such character as to permit furring strips, laths, or other interior finishing constituents, to be nailed thereto.

A number of variations in the method of .using L-shaped lug bricks of the present inin which the bricks may be used or the wall of the present-invention constructed, since other variations. conformable to the principles of the present invention are in contemplation.

In constructin a reinforcing vertical rib or pilaster, the lug bricks 10 (or the composlte variant thereof) are employed ascenstituents of the wall courses in conjunction with standard bricks 14 laid in the usual manner. Since it is customary in laying the wall courses to stagger or overlap the individual bricks, 'the lug bricks in order to conform to this requirement will lie in alternatel reversed relation above one another; that 1s to say (referring to Fig. 1), in the lug bricks of the upper course, a rearwardly extending leg stands at the right side of each lug br ck, and this arrangement will characterize the lug bricks in every other course, while in the intermediate courses the rearwardly extending leg will stand in each instance at the left of the lug bricks, so that the rearwardly extending legs will all stand in vertical alignment, and thus constitute a vertical rib or pilaster composed of lug bricks bonded into the wall itself and indistinguishable in apperance from the standard bricks of the wall face.

While in Fig. 1 and the other drawings, the special lug bricks are shown as having ing the face appearance of a standard brick,

and a backwardly extending lug of a configuration other than that particularly described, will subserve the same if not all of the requirements of the present invention, so that, unless otherwise indicated, it is not the intention to limit the invention to a lug of the equi-lateral angle formation specifical- 1 shown. Such a variation is shown in the "I -shaped brick of Fig. 12.

In Fig. 1, at the near end, the wall is finnished by the use of header bricks 15 vertically alternating with .lug bricks 10, and this arrangement is observed at the far end of the wallgi although it will be noted that those courses which employ a header brick at one end require the use of a lug brick at the opposite end, by reason of the staggered arrangement or overlapping of bricks in the alternate courses. As shown in Fig. 1, the lug bricks composing the pilasters are spaced apart from center'to center a distance equal to the length of three standard bricks, which affords a gap between pilasters equal to the length of two bricks and a half, disregarding the spacing of the mortar joints. lVith this spacing arrangement, it ma be desirable to provide isolated lug bricks etween the pilasters for the purpose of affording points of support for furring strips, lathing, or the like, and where this is desired, a plurality of rows of vertically aligned lug bricks may be provided by incorporating lug bricks 10 into separated wall courses. In Fig. 1, such an arrangement is shown in every fourth course, although every other course might be thus provided, or other spacing arrangement employed, as oc casion may require.

In Fig. 2, projecting lugs are used for corbels to support the ends of floor joists or other load bearing structural members. These may be of superimposed units in any necessary number, though two units are ordinarily all that are necessary and are the number shown in the drawings. The three upper corbels are spaced at intervening spaces of a brick and a half for support of joists placed the customary sixteen inches on centers; the four lower corbels are spaced with but one eight-inch brick length intervening for use on staunch construction where joists have to be placed twelve inches on centers. These two examples show that the lugs may be used to build out corbels at any spacing that is a multiple of half brick. Ordinarily these corbels will be free from the pilaster as 10, but they may ome adjacent to a immediately below, the lug brick will present the side edge of the exposed leg to the face of the wall, and the ,end of the same leg to the end of the wall.

In the upper course, the inner angle of the corner lug brick will be presented toward the front of the wall and afford space for the reception of. a standard brick 145 whil ein the lower course the corner lug brick will present its open angle toward the end of wall to receive a standard brick 14. \Vith the bricks laid in this way, the corner will be afforded by solid brick-work of a length and width equal to the length of a standard brick, and the brick-work will be enmeshed or inter-bonded in such a Way as to afford a very substantial reinforcement.

In Fig. f, the actual corner of the wall is afforded by a standard brick 14, but two separate and distinct pilasters or stiffening ribs, one in the side wall and one in the end wall, are afforded by lug bricks 10 which pilasters are brought together as closely as possible, the result being that their inner corners are almost in contact. This affords a configuration substantially that of an open square which enlarges the reinforcing area of the corner.

In Fig. 5, pilasters or stiffening ribs are shown as having a spacin from center to center of two and a half brick lengths, but in other respects the aprangement of the pilasters is similar to that described in Fig. 1, and a special. description is deemed unnecessary. However, it will be understood that Figs. 1 and 5 are intended merely to illustrate two possible space arrangements of the pilasters, and that the spacing of the pilaster maybe any multiple of one-half a brick length. For instance, the lug bricks 10, with the rear leg standing at the right of the lug brick, may be moved into the position of either of the intervening standard bricks, or the lug bricks may be turned over to bring the rearwardly extending legs to the left and again moved into any one of the intervening positions. By thus choosing the positions into which the lug bricks will be incorporated, and by arranging the lug bricks to bring the rearward legs either to the right or the left position, the spacing of the oilasters may be varied by half brick lengths to any desired position in the wall.

In general, it is believed that some uniform spacing should be adopted for a particular building, but it is evident that an improved construction will result from this unlimited opportunity for variable spacing near openings, corners and partition walls. A method of bonding a brick partition wall to an outside face brick wall is illustrated in Fig. 6. In this case, lug bricks 10 in alternate courses will overlap standard bricks 16 in the partition wall, which thus affords the required overlap at the point of juncture of the partition wall with the face wall, and enables the partition wall to be continued inwardly to the desired distance, furnishing an adequate bond between the face walland the partition wall. Obviously, a group or column of lug bricks 1O may be alternated with a group or column of standard bricks 16, or in lieu thereof the group of standard bricks may be replaced by lar er blocks or units, where it is desired to emp oy such units in the construction of the partition wall. In this case, the heightof the partition block should be equal to the thickness of several bricks to simplify the bonding of a group of the special lug bricks with the units of the partition wall.

Fig. 6 illustrates also an arrangement in which pilasters of a greater depth than those previously illustrated are provided. In this case, the lug bricks l0 are associated with half bricks 17 in the same course, which affords a pilaster of a depth equal to the length of a standard brick and enables the alternate courses of the pilaster to be constructed of standard bricks 18. Obviously, several courses of the lug bricks and half bricks can be laid as a group or column interspersed by several courses composed of standard bricks in column form, or larger units may be provided in lieu of the group of bricks 18 and of the half bricks 17, such units being preferably of asize constituting multiples of the constituent bricks or half bricks for which they are substituted.

In Fig. 7 is shown one method of constructing a double brick wall, each wall constituent of which is composed of a combination of standard bricks and lug bricks. In the structure shown, the front wall may be considered as the one in proximate relation to the observer, with the rear or back up wall in the more distant position. As shown, the front wall comprises a group of three courses, in which lug bricks 10 are employed at recurrent intervals to afford inwardly extending reinforcing ribs or pilaster sections identical with those described in detail in Fig. 1.

The process is then reversed, and several courses in the rear or back up wall are laid (three being shown), in which lug bricks 10 are employed to provide a forwardly extending group constituting a rib or pilaster section, which furnishes a continuation of the I pilaster section afforded by the lower courses of the front wall.

The arrangement is then again reversed, and so on throughout the height of the wall, which provides a wall structure in which the inner and outer wall sections stand in spaced relation and are thoroughly bonded at recurrent intervals by groups of bricks alternately anchored into or bonded with the respective front and rear wall sections.

Asshown in Fig. 8, the use of the lug bricks may alternate between the front and rear wall sections in every other course, instead of groups of courses, if so desired. rnfinishing the ends or corners of the double wall, standard bricks will be employed as required to square up the end of the wall in alternation with the lug bricks.

In Fig. 9, a slightly different arrangement is shown, in which one of the wall sections,

as, for instance, the rear section, may contain courses in which header bricks 19 are laid at recurrent intervals to afford inwardly extending projections vertically aligned with the lug bricks 10. The courses intermediate the header courses in the rear wall would in this instance be composed of stretcher courses composed entirel of standard bricks, although obviously in this arrangement the header courses and stretcher courses need not alternate in each instance, since groups of two or more header courses may be alternated with groups of stretcher courses, with a corresponding or complementary arrangement in the courses of the rear wall.

In Fig. 12 is shown a lug brick 10, of T- shape, which is peculiarly fitted for use in brick-work embodying what is known as the Flemish Bond face pattern. In this type of brick-work, the courses have the appearance of alternate full length bricks and half bricks, and in order to conform to this requirement, and to bring the constituents of the pilasters into vertical alignment, the lug brick 10 extends rearwardly from the center of the brick instead of from one end thereof, giving to the brick the T-shaped configuration required to provide a pilaster in this type of brick-work. However, it is not the intention to'limit the use of such T-shaped brick to the particular wall construction shown, since the T-shaped form'of lug brick, as well as the L-shaped form, is deemed to be within the scope of the present invention, and applicable for use in the construction of pilasters under appropriate conditions.

From the above description, it will be evident that the lug brick of the present invention is one which is adaptable in many ways to the requirements of a reinforced wall construction, and that walls constructed from bricks of this character are thoroughly reinforced and interbonded in a way which serves to knit together and intermesh the entire wall construction without presenting lines of cleavage for points at which breakage will tend to occur.

Although a number of examples of wall construction conformable to the principle of the present invention have been shown, it is evident that in all cases the lug bricks are so employed as to afford a double bond, one bonding occurring between the legs-of the lug bricks which are incorporated into the wall face, and the other bonding occurring between vertically aligned rearwardly projecting legs which are bonded into and become constituent portions of the vertical ribs or pilasters. In this way, the wall is thoroughly knit together or fabricated in such a way as to secure a maximum of strength in a given weight of material.

I claim:

1. A brick wall having a thickness of one brick width and composed of courses with the bricks of adjoining courses arranged in overlapping relation, each course composed of standard bricks and special bricks, the latter being of equi-lateral angle shaped formation, presenting two legs of equal length, the special bricks in adjoining courses lying in reversed relation to one another to bring their inwardly projecting legs into vertical alignment to afford spaced stiffening ribs on the back of the wall.

2. A brick wall having a thickness of one' vening between the stiffening ribs to afford,

supports for lathing or the like.

3. A brick wall corner composed of a combination of standard bricks and special bricks having lugs on their back faces, constructed with two stiffening ribs inwardly extending in angular relation to one another near the corner, each rib being composed of a vertical row of lugs on the backs of special bricks laid in a single wall, there being no direct connection between the two ribs.

at. A brick wall composed of a combination of standard bricks and special bricks, which latter when incorporated in a wall present the same face exposure as the standard bricks, the special bricks having lugs extending backwardly beyond the wall face, the standard bricks and special bricks being laid in courses with the bricks in the adjoining courses in overlapping relation and with the special bricks positioned in the respective senting two lugs, one of which affords a con-' stituentof the exposed wall surface, the special bricks in adjoining courses lying in reverse relation to one another to bring their inwardly projecting lugs into vertical alignment to afford spaced stiffening ribs on the back of the wall.

' 6. A brick wall having a thickness of one brick width and composed of courses, with the bricks of adjoining courses arranged in overlapping relation, each course composed of standard bricks and special bricks, the latter being of angle shaped formation, presenting two lugs, one of which affords a constituent of the exposed wall surface, the special bricks in adjoining courses lying in reverse relation to one another to bring their inwardly projecting lugs into vertical alignment to afford spaced stifi'ening ribs on the back of the wall, with additional special bricks incorporated into the courses and laid each with one lug rcarwardly extending to afford corbels for the support of floor construction or other loads.

7. A brick wall composed of a combination of standard bricks arranged in courses and laid to bring the exposed faces of the special bricks into flush relation to the exposed surface of the wall to present the appearance of standard bricks, the special bricks having lugs on their rear faces extending backwardly from the rear surface of the Wall to serve as supports for materials carried by the wall structure.

In witness that I.claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 11th day of December, 1928.

CLARENCE A'. WILLSON. 

